Science Breakthrough: Plate Armor is Heavy
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
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You know, I think the scientists knew that armour is heavy before they did the study. I imagine the study had a more specific aim than telling us what we already know. Something about examining the effects of weight displacement across different sections of the body, for instance.
Our next research idea: Does the sun really rise in the east and set in the west, or does it reverse set in the east and reverse rise in the west? This research experiment will need six months of time and $3 million to get an accurate result.
Well that has just blown my perception of reality entirely...
I mean how can I go on living in a world where Knights get tired because their armour heavy...
Seriously, how do we as a species justify wasting money on 'scientific' studies about things that a guy with a suit of armour cold have told us?
I can see how it went:
'Hey, how heavy do you think this armour is?'
'I don't know...'
*Lifts*
'Pretty heavy... I'm tired man.'
*Proceed to waste months worth of time and money playing Pac-man.*
I mean how can I go on living in a world where Knights get tired because their armour heavy...
Seriously, how do we as a species justify wasting money on 'scientific' studies about things that a guy with a suit of armour cold have told us?
I can see how it went:
'Hey, how heavy do you think this armour is?'
'I don't know...'
*Lifts*
'Pretty heavy... I'm tired man.'
*Proceed to waste months worth of time and money playing Pac-man.*
So what does that say for me as an active member of the SCA whose plate armor weighs close to 20 (Helm requirements make it heavier by default) and doesn't make me tired after close to six hours of fighting in Arizona.
Very little of the plate's weight goes straight on the legs. The most you have is that the leg plates themselves put some weight on the legs when your leg is lifted and in a position where some of the armor can sit on the thigh and hang from the knee. But properly strapped armor? The Helm is on the head, which is annoying on the neck if you're not used to it. The arms and the chest are strapped to the shoulders/torso as a whole. The Legs are strapped to a belt and thus being carried on the hips.
They're deluding themselves or strapping the armor wrong or, as others have said, picking people who aren't used to it and don't have the endurance.
Very little of the plate's weight goes straight on the legs. The most you have is that the leg plates themselves put some weight on the legs when your leg is lifted and in a position where some of the armor can sit on the thigh and hang from the knee. But properly strapped armor? The Helm is on the head, which is annoying on the neck if you're not used to it. The arms and the chest are strapped to the shoulders/torso as a whole. The Legs are strapped to a belt and thus being carried on the hips.
They're deluding themselves or strapping the armor wrong or, as others have said, picking people who aren't used to it and don't have the endurance.
I am glad that scientists in the UK have spent so much time and money on research of such utmost importance. This scientific break though will aid us in the generations to come.
And you wonder why knights rode into battle. Sure, riding a horse can be a workout, but it's much less demanding than slogging (and slugging) it out on foot when you're encased in steel.
Thus why half-plate was a much better option, as well as the armor skirt as apposed to metal leggings.
lol kings couldn't afford to have bad soldiers. They were built dudes, lugging all that armor along with weaponry wasn't something a scrawning guy could pull off. And that means they had to be fed.
Proof that humans descendended from idiots. How much time, effort, and money were used to prove this obvious fact. I mean fuck, dnd knew this 40 years ago, plate armor sucks. Jeez guys, what are you gonna study next, are you going to prove that men have arms?
Honestly, I think this is one of those misguided attempts to say "Man, those people back in the medieval ages were total idiots; look how much smarter we are now with our SCIENCE!".
As others have said in this thread- who were the test subjects? Knights didn't spend six hours a day in front of a television with a beer in their hand; they spent a lot of time training, wearing the armor in all sorts of situations, and their access to better-quality food and medicine (of the era) meant that they were prime physical specimens compared to the serfs and servants. It's not very likely you're going to pull twenty people off of the street of any major city today and have them be a physical match.
Five hundred years from now, they'll be doing tests to show how stupid we were lugging around Kevlar-titanium-ceramic body armor, and how much smarter they are for having energy shields.
As others have said in this thread- who were the test subjects? Knights didn't spend six hours a day in front of a television with a beer in their hand; they spent a lot of time training, wearing the armor in all sorts of situations, and their access to better-quality food and medicine (of the era) meant that they were prime physical specimens compared to the serfs and servants. It's not very likely you're going to pull twenty people off of the street of any major city today and have them be a physical match.
Five hundred years from now, they'll be doing tests to show how stupid we were lugging around Kevlar-titanium-ceramic body armor, and how much smarter they are for having energy shields.